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To the editor,
While many within the Republican Party see NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as a gift, one which would allow them to exhibit just how loony the Democrats have truly become (and he will absolutely provide them that gift), his unabashed communist campaign platform, antisemitic messaging and beliefs, and radical background render him unfit for office.
Mamdani has promoted lofty government-first goals such as taxing specific neighborhoods based on the presumed skin color of its residents; government-controlled housing and associated pricing; the abolition of private property; and the constricting of the NYPD in order to send social workers to respond to emergency calls and fight crime. Ideas like government-aided grocery stores and free or discounted intra-city transit are programs that already exist in NYC in smaller-formats, but ones which, once scaled upwards, will incur significant funding by tax dollars. He is known for his careful refusal to condemn the antisemitic statement ‘globalize the intifada,’ refusal to condemn the Holocaust, and refusal to even recognize Israel. His responses to the October 7th, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel led many to believe he was more critical of Israel than sympathetic to the victims.
Presumably, his views are not distant from those of his father, Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. Mahmood sits on the Gaza Tribunal council, an entity which has the goal of delegitimizing Israel as a state by way of financial boycotts, business and government withdrawals of investments and major legal sanctions. Like father, like son, Mahmood also used the October 7th, 2023 attack as an opportunity to criticize Israel. In his 2005 book ‘Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror,’ Mahmood describes that "Suicide bombing needs to be understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism,” and that, “We need to recognize the suicide bomber, first and foremost, as a category of soldier." Philosophies like these resonate deeply with New Yorkers like myself who beheld the 9/11 terrorist attacks in real-time. With respect to the fact that a son is not his father, and recognizing that a mayor’s duty to the protection of the city must surely be maintained, one can’t help but consider where sympathies might lie should any future attack or action by any entity involve ‘soldiers’ of a fashion similar to the perpetrators of the 9/11NYC attack.
The presence of Zohran Mamdani (even without considering the influence of his father) in the mayoral arena is alarming and the aforementioned campaign points render him unfit for the management of the boroughs of New York City. If the Democrat party has any validity left, they should officially denounce him and kick him to the curb because he is not a Democrat: he is a communist, endorsing the reprehensible trend of normalizing antisemitism. Mamdani’s activity is an example of why long time Democrat strategist James Carville recently stated that the Democrat party is “constipated, leaderless, confused, and a cracked-out clown car, divided.” Carville suggests that Democrats shed the far-left politicians and leave them to start their own party: wisdom that, if heeded, could be the one path for the Democrats to gain any strength or consistency. Senator Fetterman (D) also remarked (on Mamdani), “…he’s not even a Democrat, honestly,” and “Everything that I’ve read on him, I don’t really agree with virtually any of it, politically.” Congressman Tom Suozzi (D) remarks that Mamdani, “won because too many voters think the rest of the Democratic Party no longer stands for them. That's the warning from New York, and Democrats ignore it at their peril.” Poignant words from a growing pool of people smelling the coffee.
NYC, and New York State in general (for we are all effected by the Big Apple), needs to remember that Zohran Mamdani is not actually running as a Democrat but rather as a “Socialist Democrat.” They need to read his campaign platform very carefully, listen to his words (or indeed, his strategic lack thereof) in interviews because in reality most people wouldn’t want to live with what he wants to do with the city. At the very least, voters need to ask the essential questions of how he will accomplish his goals and what it would cost in the long-term.
Thank you,
Jessica Dieckman
While many within the Republican Party see NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as a gift, one which would allow them to exhibit just how loony the Democrats have truly become (and he will absolutely provide them that gift), his unabashed communist campaign platform, antisemitic messaging and beliefs, and radical background render him unfit for office.
Mamdani has promoted lofty government-first goals such as taxing specific neighborhoods based on the presumed skin color of its residents; government-controlled housing and associated pricing; the abolition of private property; and the constricting of the NYPD in order to send social workers to respond to emergency calls and fight crime. Ideas like government-aided grocery stores and free or discounted intra-city transit are programs that already exist in NYC in smaller-formats, but ones which, once scaled upwards, will incur significant funding by tax dollars. He is known for his careful refusal to condemn the antisemitic statement ‘globalize the intifada,’ refusal to condemn the Holocaust, and refusal to even recognize Israel. His responses to the October 7th, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel led many to believe he was more critical of Israel than sympathetic to the victims.
Presumably, his views are not distant from those of his father, Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. Mahmood sits on the Gaza Tribunal council, an entity which has the goal of delegitimizing Israel as a state by way of financial boycotts, business and government withdrawals of investments and major legal sanctions. Like father, like son, Mahmood also used the October 7th, 2023 attack as an opportunity to criticize Israel. In his 2005 book ‘Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror,’ Mahmood describes that "Suicide bombing needs to be understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism,” and that, “We need to recognize the suicide bomber, first and foremost, as a category of soldier." Philosophies like these resonate deeply with New Yorkers like myself who beheld the 9/11 terrorist attacks in real-time. With respect to the fact that a son is not his father, and recognizing that a mayor’s duty to the protection of the city must surely be maintained, one can’t help but consider where sympathies might lie should any future attack or action by any entity involve ‘soldiers’ of a fashion similar to the perpetrators of the 9/11NYC attack.
The presence of Zohran Mamdani (even without considering the influence of his father) in the mayoral arena is alarming and the aforementioned campaign points render him unfit for the management of the boroughs of New York City. If the Democrat party has any validity left, they should officially denounce him and kick him to the curb because he is not a Democrat: he is a communist, endorsing the reprehensible trend of normalizing antisemitism. Mamdani’s activity is an example of why long time Democrat strategist James Carville recently stated that the Democrat party is “constipated, leaderless, confused, and a cracked-out clown car, divided.” Carville suggests that Democrats shed the far-left politicians and leave them to start their own party: wisdom that, if heeded, could be the one path for the Democrats to gain any strength or consistency. Senator Fetterman (D) also remarked (on Mamdani), “…he’s not even a Democrat, honestly,” and “Everything that I’ve read on him, I don’t really agree with virtually any of it, politically.” Congressman Tom Suozzi (D) remarks that Mamdani, “won because too many voters think the rest of the Democratic Party no longer stands for them. That's the warning from New York, and Democrats ignore it at their peril.” Poignant words from a growing pool of people smelling the coffee.
NYC, and New York State in general (for we are all effected by the Big Apple), needs to remember that Zohran Mamdani is not actually running as a Democrat but rather as a “Socialist Democrat.” They need to read his campaign platform very carefully, listen to his words (or indeed, his strategic lack thereof) in interviews because in reality most people wouldn’t want to live with what he wants to do with the city. At the very least, voters need to ask the essential questions of how he will accomplish his goals and what it would cost in the long-term.
Thank you,
Jessica Dieckman
I’m getting lots of positive feedback on this letter from locals. Many people appreciate this letter. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDelete—Jessica :)
Ditto.
Delete